Mystic Mountain offers a fantastic view of the Ocho Rios pier and coastline. - File Photos
I'm back from Egypt, just in time to experience an incredibly exhilarating preview of Jamaican tourism at its best. I'm not talking great hotel service here, rather ecotourism built to a standard I honestly didn't think possible in our soon-come, occasional power-cut society.
When someone mentioned building cable cars from the Caribbean sea into the mountains several years ago, I scoffed at the notion, wondering how long it would take for the technology to be neglected or a hurricane to mash up the cables. I scoff no more.
On June 14, I rode on a wide, four-seater cable car, not one of those frightening ski lifts where your legs dangle in mid-air and you have to jump for your life to avoid having the seat hit you in the back if you don't get off in time. No, this is a spacious seat, with place for your legs to rest and a handle bar in front to keep you safely in, though not for small children, as the Sky Lift Explorer gently lifts you from the entrance just near Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios and gradually glides you through treetops to above the forest canopy and a view of Ocho Rios harbour and azure sea beyond.
Preserved the natural forest
A narrow cut, between 12 and 15 feet, during construction preserved the natural forest, making communion with birds and greenery a delight for visitors as they travel up to 700 feet above sea level. Helicopters dropped in the steel supports, so heavy they were designed in halves and joined on site, so as to preserve the forest beneath the Sky Lift.
I looked down upon a single trail, left to allow for maintenance or for nature lovers to amble through the woods. In fact, there are six other trails for hikers throughout the 100-acre property.
But it is the Bobsled Jamaica ride at the top that is something fantastic. Even though it started raining as we were fitted into the cars and given instructions on how to brake or accelerate, once heading down the track nothing mattered except the thrill of sailing around steel curves as I cut through the forest. My only annoyance was that the 'bobsledder' in front wasn't going fast enough, which meant I couldn't either, as one has to maintain a certain distance for safety. I can see this is one snag management will have to work out because some daredevils will just drive right into the car ahead. But there is time to adjust this, as the park doesn't open until later this month.
Spectacular restaurants
Laura Tanna
I was so enthralled with the bobsled ride, and the layout of what will be a spectacular restaurant above, that I didn't even try the Zipline Canopy tour, literally zipping on a cable across the treetops within the safety of two harnesses. Decided to leave that for when we return with our next set of visitors, for return we definitely will!
And everything has been well thought out. It's the brainchild of water sports master Michael Drakulich, who knows the area intimately, having hiked the hills for years when he wasn't being the playboy of the north coast, a description his partner, the lovely Barbara Lulich, uses to explain why they didn't settle down together until 1990.
Born in California, of Serbian parents, Mike, an avid athlete, came to Jamaica in the early 1970s and opened Strawberry Fields, a campsite near Robin's Bay in St Mary. There he met Horace Clarke, then member of parliament for St Mary. Their friendship has survived 35 years and gained Drakulich, a Jamaican citizen, Clarke's support in this visionary effort.
Maximises Jamaica's beauty
An astute lawyer by training, Drakulich has taken his time to research and plan the best way to make an environmentally functional park that maximises Jamaica's beauty without undermining it. Two generators, soon to be followed by scores of solar panels, insulate the sky lift from electricity costs or cuts. Jamaican employees graciously assist guests through the various activities and an attractively designed centre with photographs and well-written introductions to Jamaica's history, maritime adventures, flora, fauna, athletes and arts, opens the country's assets beyond beach and sun to the many foreign visitors, who will undoubtedly spend time here.
Drakulich has brought in the expertise of Rainforest Aerial Trams, the ecotourism group, which built parks in Costa Rica, and St Lucia, and has made arrangements with Carnival cruise lines to accommodate their guests, contributing to the project's basic economic viability. In conjunction with climbing Dunn's River Falls, Mystic Mountain Rainforest is a phenomenon that will place Jamaica at the pinnacle of Caribbean destinations. Now, if only Port Royal could find these same kind of innovative investors! As it is, I am blown away by the First-World feel of this brilliant Mystic Mountain Rainforest Bobsled Jamaica experience. I had so much fun!
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One of the rivers that runs through the Mystic Mountain attraction in Ocho Rios.
